Chapter 16 Taboo Acts: Food and Drink Taboos

To the savage, every drink and food carried special dangers; for while eating, the soul might escape from the mouth, or be taken up by magic by the enemies present.Among the Kwa-speaking African natives of the Slave Coast there seems to be a general belief that the indwelling soul enters and exits the body through the mouth, and that one must therefore be careful not to open his mouth when the soul has left the body, lest wandering spirits without shelter take the opportunity. Drill in, which is most likely at mealtime.Measures were therefore taken to guard against this danger.It is said that the Bataks believed that "since the soul can leave the body, one must be careful not to let it go astray when one needs it most. But the only way to prevent the soul from wandering abroad is to stay at home and not go out." Therefore, whenever people have a banquet, all the doors are always closed, so that the soul can stay in the house and enjoy the food in front of us.” The Zafimanillo people in Madagascar always lock the door when they eat, and almost no one sees it Let them eat.The Varuya people [the people of the Zaire region in the southeast of the Congo River Basin, whose language belongs to the Bantu language system. ] It is also not letting anyone see them eating and drinking, and more especially not letting the opposite sex see them eating and drinking. "I can pay a man to let me watch him drink water, but I can't make a man let another woman watch him drink water." When people offer them a glass of water, they always ask for a piece of cloth to cover the water. Saw them drinking water.

If these are the general defenses of ordinary people, then the defenses of kings must be even more special.The king of Luango could not eat or drink in the sight of the person or animal who was about to be executed.When the king was having a banquet, his favorite dog broke in, and the king ordered that he be killed immediately and there.Once, the king's own son, who was only 12 years old, accidentally saw the king drinking.The king at once ordered him to be clothed in fine clothes, and to eat and drink, and then cut him into pieces, and displayed them all over the city, declaring that he had seen the king drink.When the king wanted to drink, the waiter brought the wine and put it in front of the king. He turned his back to the king and rang the bell in his hand.So it is when the king eats.There is also a special room for him to eat. All his food is laid out on the dining table. He walks into the room and closes the door to eat.After eating, he knocked on the door and walked out.Thus no one ever saw the king drink and dine.They believed that if anyone saw it, the king would die instantly.The leftovers of the king's food were buried, no doubt to prevent them from falling into the hands of wizards, who might thereby cast deadly spells on the king.The king of the neighboring country of Kakongo followed the same rule, and it was believed that if his subjects saw him drinking, the king would die.Anyone who saw King Dahomey eating was a capital offense.When he drank in public on special occasions, he hid behind a curtain, or covered his head with a handkerchief, and all present bowed to the ground, face downward, and were not allowed to look up.When the king of Bunyoro [now Uganda] in Central Africa went to the dairy farm to drink milk, every man had to leave the place where the king was, and all the women had to cover their heads until the king left.No one is allowed to see the king drink milk.A woman accompanied the king into the dairy, handed the milk jug and turned her face away, waiting for the king to drink the milk.